Dark Days and Much Darker Days: A Detective Story Club Christmas Annual

Dark Days and Much Darker Days: A Detective Story Club Christmas Annual
David Brawn

Hugh Conway

A ‘shilling shocker’ from the late 19th century, a macabre novel of murder and its consequences, originally published as a Christmas Annual for adults and now reissued complete with a hilarious parody by satirist Andrew Lang released the same Christmas.In the eyes of the law, murder is murder. When Dr North discovers that his beloved Philippa – surely the most beautiful murderess who ever crossed the pages of fiction – has killed her abusive husband, he must decide whether to turn her in or take the law into his own hands. There are dark days ahead as he wrestles with his conscience: can a crime ever be justified? And is Philippa the villain or the victim?Combining the thrills of the Penny Dreadful with the melodrama of the Sensation Novel, Hugh Conway wrote some of the most successful Christmas crime stories ever published. Dark Days followed his enthralling Called Back as a Christmas Annual, published just before his untimely death ended a writing career of only four years, robbing the world of one of the most popular detective writers since Wilkie Collins.THIS DETECTIVE STORY CLUB CLASSIC is introduced by David Brawn, and includes Much Darker Days by Scottish writer, critic and satirist Andrew Lang, a hilarious retelling of the story which sold almost as well as the original.

Copyright (#ud10014ba-8cd6-57c0-8235-790b58368a0b)

Published by COLLINS CRIME CLUB

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

Dark Days first published in J.W. Arrowsmith’s Christmas Annual 1884

Published by The Detective Story Club for Wm Collins Sons & Co. Ltd 1930

Much Darker Days first published by Longmans, Green & Co. 1884

Introduction © David Brawn 2016

Cover design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 1930, 2016

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008137748

Ebook Edition © October 2016 ISBN: 9780008137755

Version: 2016-08-25

Table of Contents

Cover (#u208d65a0-d27d-5bd9-a470-76c29ee3c8fa)

Title Page (#u8ac2c984-dfc1-539e-a92f-7d074ab39ba5)

Copyright (#u96ed42e9-d63d-5749-95e8-e120fcdc8677)

Introduction (#ub569ce4a-3b02-5967-966d-7e03bbaf4574)

Dark Days (#u96a2656d-1ad5-5a60-815e-8d897045bc4f)

Dedication (#udf9d84a5-6bc4-5bf2-94cd-6f4493c981ab)

Editor’s Preface (#ub63e8efb-277a-5025-b333-f65b5be8e4d0)

Chapter I: A Prayer and a Vow (#u370a469a-3504-5292-8bc1-c726456c288a)

Chapter II: A Villain’s Blow (#u67836c25-df45-520c-a64f-627b9366b037)

Chapter III: ‘the Wages of Sin’ (#u51ca5a1c-5ddc-5676-9406-2d2091acd158)

Chapter IV: At All Cost, Sleep! (#u5b346d5a-9fb3-5fb3-a420-2f4c8e2a3f3e)

Chapter V: A White Tomb (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter VI: The Secret Kept (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter VII: The Melting of the Snow (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter VIII: Flight (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter IX: Safe—and Loved! (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter X: The Sword Falls (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter XI: Special Pleading (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter XII: Tempted to Dishonour (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter XIII: The Last Hope (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter XIV: The Criminal Court (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter XV: The Black Cap (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter XVI: ‘Where Are the Snows That Fell Last Year?’ (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter XVII: Clear Skies (#litres_trial_promo)

Much Darker Days (#litres_trial_promo)

Preface (#litres_trial_promo)

Preface (Revised Edition) (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter I: The Curse (Registered) (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter II: A Villain’s by-Blow (#litres_trial_promo)